


Brainwashed Buddies

by ThirteenOakdown



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, I think?, Other, brainwashed tardis fam, brainwashing tw, doctor who - Freeform, inspired by braddersbangerz's fic, not sure, slight violence tw, thirteenth doctor - Freeform, violence tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 12:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20675672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirteenOakdown/pseuds/ThirteenOakdown
Summary: "Don't tell me we're back on Desolation.""Oh, yes."--Or, a fic in which the Doctor's family is used against her.





	Brainwashed Buddies

**Author's Note:**

> okay look, this is literally breaking my heart to write this but i promise a happy ending

Pain.

That was the first thing the Doctor noticed when she woke up. 

Hands bound behind her with some kind of wire which was definitely cutting through her skin, a hard board behind her, and her fam was nowhere to be seen.

Right on cue, someone entered the cell from behind her, boots clicking against the rough cement, and the Doctor was just barely able to turn her head to see…Yaz?

It was Yaz, alright, but it wasn’t Yaz. Her normal leather jacket and orange long-sleeved t-shirt were forgone in favour of an orange and black uniform, and the warmth in her eyes was gone, replaced by a kind of cruel calculation, like she was planning where to hit the Doctor and make it hurt the most. 

The Doctor tried to speak, nothing but a faint whistle forcing her way out of her chapped throat, and Yaz just smiled. On the Doctor’s third try, she finally succeeded. 

“What…where am I?”

Yaz clicked a button on her sleeve, and the black screen covering one of the windows dissolved, but the Doctor had to crane her head to turn around, a feat greatly hindered by the straps keeping her head to the board, but she turned anyway. 

“Don’t tell me we’re on Desolation again.”

Yaz nodded, smirking. “Oh, yes. We’re on Desolation. The Stenza recolonised and repurposed it, and now it’s a marvellously advanced laboratory. We crash-landed here a week ago, and while you were so inconveniently indisposed, the Stenza taught me their ways, and I have learnt so quickly Tzim-Sha has told me that I could be the next leader.”

She smiled beatifically and turned back to the Doctor. “Isn’t that just wonderful?”

The Doctor’s brow furrowed, then her eyes widened. “Tim Shaw?”

Yaz’s countenance turned stormy, and she delivered a punch to the Doctor’s abdomen, doubling her over, and the wire cut deeper into her wrists. 

She was so absorbed in the pain seemed to be everywhere at once that she almost didn’t hear what Yaz said next.

“When you are willing to serve Tzim-Sha, call for me and we shall exit together, as equals.”

—

The Doctor didn’t think it was possible for this nightmare to get any worse, yet here she was, faced by Ryan Sinclair, who was wearing the same thing Yaz was wearing. 

He was reclined in a sleek black leather armchair, and was nursing a crystal glass of…something. 

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

He took another sip from the glass, and turned to look out the window, at the barren landscape.

“Isn’t that just so damn beautiful?”

The Doctor couldn’t say she was scared of many things, but she was scared at the expression of the pure wonder and awe on Ryan’s face, and she chose her next words carefully. 

“It’s, er, not really my taste.” 

Ryan got up from the chair and walked over, previous slightly-shuffling walk replaced by the languidness of a snake in water. “In time, you will learn to love it, Doctor. I am sure you will. You wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to your spaceship, would you…Doctor?”

The Doctor determinedly avoided Ryan’s stinging gaze, and nodded, mute.

Ryan smiled, eyes dead like a shark’s eyes. “Good.”

—

It was official. She was back in her confession dial. 

Faced with Graham O’Brien, who looked at her with nothing but disdain, and he started. “Hello, Doctor.” 

The Doctor let her eyes rove over Graham’s face, and he held her gaze at every point. “You killed the love of my life.”

The Doctor’s eyes snapped up to meet Graham’s frosty blue eyes, hard like two lakes in winter. “You killed Grace, my only reason for living. If we hadn’t met you, she wouldn’t have died.”

The Doctor’s eyes closed in defeat, the back of her head falling against the board, and the door swung shut with a slam that made her flinch.

Surely things can’t get any worse than this, right?

—

The past week had been hell, with her ex-family coming in and heckling her for the hell of it, and she wasn’t sure how much more she could take. 

Yaz came in again, uniform exchanged for a checkered blue shirt and brown khakis, some kind of box under her arm, and if the Doctor let herself go, she could almost imagine that she was back in the TARDIS, and Yaz had a bad joke to tell her. 

She closed her eyes, which flew open almost immediately when Yaz began untying her, and she started whispering in her ear, fast and low.

“Doctor, it’s me. The real Yasmin Khan. I remember who I am, and I know you don’t know whether you can trust me or not, but please, just do.” She pulled back, restraints clattering to the floor, and as the Doctor watched her, she waved a hand in the air, and the room became darker, the shades that Yaz had lowered weeks ago finally closing again. 

Yaz spoke at a normal volume, smiling. “There. That’s better, isn’t it?”

The Doctor stared at her blankly, and Yaz’s eyebrows gradually drew together as the Doctor kept staring at her. “Oh, Doctor, they haven’t already blinked you, have they?”

She gently guided her into a chair at a table behind the Doctor’s board, muscles screaming in protest at being moved for the first time in weeks, and Yaz settled in the chair opposite to her, gently taking her hands in her gloved hands, and the Doctor flinched, and Yaz pulled away immediately. “Oh, gods, I’m so sorry. Can I?” she asked tentatively, and the Doctor gave Yaz her hands, who inspected her slashed and mangled wrists. “Well, the good news is you didn’t hurt any important tendons, so that’s a plus, but you might have gotten some infections, which I hope you didn’t. Damn, where’s the rubbing alcohol when you need it? I don’t think they have any here.” 

When she said that, she was deliberately looking at the Doctor, who looked up to see Yaz’s warm brown eyes, and Yaz nodded, once. 

The Doctor let Yaz clean and bandage her wounds after that, but Yaz apologised for not bringing water with her, and the Doctor just shrugged, mouthing “Being mute right now is the least of my worries,” but Yaz did have to tie the Doctor back into the chair (that had replaced the board), and Yaz was careful to keep the restraints loose, but as she was tying the Doctor back into the chair, she whispered lightly “Don’t escape without us. We’re coming.” And with that, she pressed a gentle kiss to the Doctor’s cheek, then straightened up, waving a hand in the air, and the room lit up again. 

—

It was Ryan’s turn to come in, but after the relieving encounter with Yaz, the Doctor allowed a small spark of hope to light up within her. Ryan stumbled slightly on his way in, and he had nothing in his hands. 

Ryan smiled at her, waving a hand, and the lights dimmed again. “Hello, Doctor.” The Doctor nodded, eyes swerving to the pane of black glass behind Ryan, who turned to see what she was looking at. “They can’t hear us or see us now, so don’t worry. They thought I was their best shot of getting to you, but they were wrong,” he said, mouthing to the Doctor “because I broke free of them already”, and the Doctor managed a weak smile.

Ryan spent the rest of his time with the Doctor updating her on things and trying to undo the trauma caused by the not-companions, but he looked grim all the same. 

“I heard Yaz crying out for you. She was begging them not to hurt you, Doctor. She cares so much about you it’s breathtaking and exhilarating and terrifying all at the same time. I was the one who broke first, Doctor, and I’m sorry for that.”

One of the Doctor’s hands, which were unbound, rested stiffly (due to the injury) over Ryan’s, and he looked up into the Doctor’s understanding eyes.

“It was terrifying to hear her screaming and pleading and I wasn’t able to help her.”

Ryan tripped over his words, sometimes picking and choosing, sometimes letting them flow out of him like a river, and throughout it all, the Doctor listened. 

Finally, when the words stopped and when Ryan had nothing left to say, the Doctor hugged him (as best as she could with one arm, anyway), and Ryan hugged her back. 

“We’re coming, Doctor. Wait for us.” 

—

“Something’s wrong.”

“What is it, sir?”

“Something. Wipe the humans again.”

“Sir.” 

—

Graham entered the cell, to see the Doctor at a table with a chessboard in front of her. 

Ever since she had started (reluctantly) complying with what the Stenza asked, they had given her a bit more freedom, to show that they weren’t all tyrannical. 

She felt a bit like Penelope, waiting for Odysseus to return, promising service instead of marriage once she had finished knitting; working during the day and unravelling under the cover of night. She tried to sabotage the Stenza at every turn, and it pleased her to say that it was working. 

Graham sat down in front of her, bringing a Thermos to the table, and the Doctor slid the chessboard in his direction. Her wrists were slowly getting better, normal Time Lady anatomy not coming into play, as her wounds should have healed by now. 

He poured some tea into two cups, passing one to the Doctor, who accepted gratefully. She raised the cup to her lips, and as she took her first sip, she heard Graham’s voice in her head. 

_Doc, it’s me. _

She was careful to keep her eyes on the chessboard, trying to make it look like she was pondering moves. _Graham?_

Graham moved his white pawn two steps forward, and leaned back in the chair. _Who else?_

The Doctor moved her knight forward, about to say something when Graham just said _Telepathic tea, got it from a friend. But there’s more; Tim’s ordered the Stenza to wipe us again, and Yaz and Ryan have gone under again. _

Graham stared at the board, finally choosing to send a knight out. _I’m really starting to hate our lad Tim Shaw over here. Can you break them out?_

The Doctor’s fingers landed on a pawn, moving it one step ahead, flanking the first pawn. _It ain’t gonna be easy, Doc, cause I gotta get ‘em to drink the tea as well. _

Graham moved his queen, effectively putting the Doctor into check. _Graham, can’t you just slip it into their tea, or something?_ “Check.” 

The Doctor just slid another pawn in front of the King. _It’d have to be a very large dose, but I think I have enough. The only reason I didn’t go under was because I knew they were lying, but Yaz and Ryan still think that their respective fears are your fault. _

Graham took the pawn, putting him even closer to the Doctor’s King. _Can you do it?_

The Doctor conceded, even though there were obvious ways to get out of her chess dilemma. _Yes. _

—

The Stenza wheeled her down a corridor, passing by glass-walled cells with aliens in them, and in one case, a distinctly human shipwreck. Her mind was delirious, muddled by the tranquilisers the Stenza had pumped her full with, but she still managed to form a coherent thought. 

_ Ah, so that’s where the Bermuda Triangle leads. _

She could hear the distant sounds of explosions, and as the Stenza ran towards the gradually-getting-louder booms, everything went black. 

—

The next time she woke up, she was in her own bed. 

_Oh, so it was just a dream._

She pushed herself up, then collapsed again when a bolt of pain lanced through her chest and neck. She lay there, for a while, gasping for air when she noticed that someone was holding her hand. 

Okay, maybe it wasn’t a dream. 

She followed the hand-holder’s arm with her eyes, and her face landed on their face. 

It was Yaz. Beautiful, actual, real Yaz, dressed in her normal clothes. 

The Doctor squeezed her hand, once, and Yaz’s eyes shot open.

“Doctor! You’re awake!”

Graham and Ryan came running, of whom Ryan was coated in cornflakes, and Graham was covered in milk, and they were both holding a large saucepan and a spoon, clearly planning to eat breakfast. Ryan was going to close in for a hug when a hand shot out in front of him, which was Yaz. “Ah ah ah, no hugging, the Doctor’s still too fragile.” Ryan scowled lightly at her, choosing to smile widely at the Doctor instead, and offered her a cornflake. “Cornflake?” 

Huffing out a weak laugh, she smiled as the people who loved her most surrounded her. 

“What’d I miss?”

Graham shrugged. “Not much.” 

“Blew up half a Stenza base, but made sure it was empty.”

“Freed some aliens.”

“Told the Galactic UN that the Stenza repopulated the planet.”

“Shot another alien in the foot.”

“Shot the same alien in the foot, one more time.” 

“Grabbed your TARDIS.”

“Bundled you into it.” 

“Saved your life.” 

“Learnt to fly the TARDIS.”

“Watched you sleep for a while.” 

“Persuaded the TARDIS to add another biscuit option to your custard creams dispenser.” 

The Doctor’s eyes widened, almost comically. “Not much? What kind of biscuit did you add?”

—

The TARDIS was surprisingly quiet for once, and the Doctor was content. 

The Doctor had pulled several strings for Yaz to get an application to King’s College for free, (College applications ought to be free, she groused), and had also guaranteed a free application for the next ten years of applications, of which the missed funds were paid by a mysterious benefactor. After living twelve human lifetimes, of course, she’d have amassed quite a fortune. 

She’d also sat down with Yaz in the library and agreed upon a schedule for when Yaz would go home to alleviate her parents’ worries as well as banter with her sister, and when Yaz complained, the Doctor had smiled softly, and put an arm on Yaz’s shoulder, saying “Treasure them, Yaz, because one day they won’t be around anymore.” 

Almost the same thing had happened with Ryan and Graham, and the Doctor had dropped them outside of Grace’s apartment after making sure that neither of their past selves would be there, which just so happened to be the night before the night an alien had fallen from the sky and into their lives, the night before Grace had...

Graham and Ryan wanted to properly say goodbye to Grace, and the Doctor had obliged, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye when she thought they couldn't see her.

Ryan smiled at Grace when they had finished dinner (pizza) and were outside Grace’s apartment, Graham and Ryan living where Ryan used to live, but Grace couldn’t bear moving out.

“I love you, Grandma, see you tomorrow,” Ryan said, choking back tears because he knew he’d never hug her again. He was careful to hug her extra tight this time, searing every detail into his memory, and he was glad that she had hugged him tightly back.

Graham had kissed her one last time, sweet and sad and slow, and then they left, closing the chapter on this life, and opening another. 

—

Yaz and Graham had gone out on their weekly snack run, and only Ryan and the Doctor were left in the TARDIS, and they were walking around in the TARDIS’ gardens and talking.

“Did you know a woman in purple appeared behind us and helped us fight?”

The Doctor’s head slowly turned to look at Ryan. “What was her name?”

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know, I couldn’t really hear. But I think it was, uh, Missy. Besides, we had better things to worry about at that time, okay? You were about to get your throat slit, the rest of the Stenza were very close to killing us, and we had no idea what to do.”

The Doctor ran her fingers unconsciously over the bandages that still covered a part of her neck, and the raised scar that ran parallel to her chin. “Fine, fair enough.” 

They walked along for a while, until the Doctor broke the silence. “Why’d someone rebandage my wrists?”

Ryan shrugged. “According to Yaz, that was a sedative-laced bandage to keep you docile and from turning the not-us into us again, which means that was a very convincing fake Yaz to make you trust her. Bet they weren’t expecting any resistance from the inside, eh?”

The Doctor raised her fist for a fist bump, and rolling his eyes, Ryan returned the fist bump. 

—

By the time they got back to the console room, Graham and Yaz had just finished shelving the three cardboard boxes of cereals, and there were 12 cartons of milk in the refrigerator, and the Doctor could faintly tell who had bought them, and what they were going to do with so much cereal and milk. 

Yaz had her hand on the lever that made the TARDIS take off, and she turned to look at the Doctor and Ryan as they entered the console room, Graham dozing in one of the chairs that slid out of the wall of the TARDIS. 

“So where to now, Doctor?”

The Doctor grinned, a wide grin that made her chosen family smile as well, safe in knowing that the Doctor was the Doctor again. 

“So, I was thinking…everywhere.”

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> did you like the ending? please say yes


End file.
